115 Illustrations for Honoré de Balzac's La Comédie Humaine (The Human Comedy)

Given the number of drawings in this lot (115), Sotheby's has not prepared an individual condition report for each sheet. However, it should be noted that the overall condition of the sheets may be characterized as having various losses, tears, fox marks, discolorations, and mat stains.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

115 pieces sold in this lot: Jules-Alexis Muenier (1);  Paul Avril (6); Maurice-Henry Orange (5); Edmond Picard (1); Adrien Moreau (10);  Georges-Jules-Auguste Cain (22); Gustave Bourgain (7);  Maximilienne Guyon (9); Albert Auguste Fourié (8); Jules Girardet (10); Alcidé-Théophile Robaudi (5); Lucius Rossi (5); Pierre Vidal (3); Jacques-Clément Wagrez (3); Henri-Alphonse-Louis Laurent-Desrousseaux (6); Ernest Ange Duez (1); Georges Roux (5), Possibly St. Richou (8)

The bulk of Balzac's writing is contained in a group of ninety-five finished works and forty-eight unfinished works collectively known as La Comédie humaine (The Human Comedy), the title of which references Dante's Divine Comedy.   The works are subdivided into a smaller group of novels: "Scenes of Private Life," "Scenes of Political Life," "Parisian Life," "Provincial," "Country,"  "Military," and other types of "Life." The various narratives take place during the Bourbon restoration (1814-1830) and  the following July Monarchy (There is a separate group of "Philosophical Studies," which focus more on the metaphysical and others take place in earlier history).  While there are hundreds of characters in La Comédie humaine, a number of them travel from one story to another; this allowed Balzac to fully explore their psychological development, creating a remarkable multi-dimensionality to his stories of a type not before attempted.  The character that represents Balzac's project best is perhaps Eugène de Rastignac, an ambitious yet poor nobleman who appears in over fifteen stories. Jealous of high society yet naïve of the price of reaching its echelons, Eugène will do anything to improve his social standing.  Rastignac and all of Balzac's characters, from the lowest urchin to the wealthiest aristocrat, are unified by their often single-minded quests to appease base urges and often selfish needs despite the ultimate costs to themselves and those around them. 

Given the dramatic and complex nature of Balzac's stories, it is little surprise that an ensemble of celebrated and emerging names of late nineteenth century art would be chosen to illustrate an expansive edition of Katherine Prescott Wormeley's translation of La Comédie humaine, published in the United States in several editions by Boston publishers Roberts Brothers and Little, Brown through the late 1890s (an 1899 edition honored the centenary of Balzac's birth).  Such projects were common in publishing in the nineteenth century; for example, Antony Roux commissioned several well-known artists, including Félix Ziem, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Rosa Bonheur, Henri-Jopseph Harpiginies, to paint a series of watercolors illustrating La Fontaine's Fables.   Likewise, the Wormeley edition is notable for its roster of artists who illustrated each volume's frontispieces and particularly intriguing moments in Balzac's stories. Interestingly the annotations of the drawings are in French; it is therefore likely that a French agent first commissioned the project prior to the drawings' engraving and subsequent printing in the English translation. The range of styles, compositional technique, and pictorial choices in this group of drawings easily conveys the edition's appeal to American audiences eager for beautifully bound, fully illustrated editions of great literature. The American reader would probably not have recognized each artist's name; indeed, the set might only have served as expensive library decoration for most buyers.  Perhaps more important than a good read, in owning a luxuriously appointed edition of La Comédie humaine, collectors showed they were à la mode, part of the vogue for anything French that swept the East Coast of America in the late nineteenth century.

 

 

 

.